Context/Content of a Social Studies classroom
The Social Studies classroom provides a unique opportunity for differentiated instruction for exceptional learners. There are general strategies that can be implemented across any subject field, but social studies also provides an opportunity for real discussions on exceptionalities throughout history and key historical figures with exceptionalities. Along with this opportunity, there is also an issue with differentiated instruction, because social studies is a very text-heavy field. There are less hands-on activities than there are inside of a science classroom for example. Challenges aside, it is definitely possible to created a strong classroom culture with differentiated instruction inside the social studies classroom.
Other Health Impairments Introduction:
Other health impairments are defined as “Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, due to chronic or acute health problems…that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Vaughn 2007). Some examples of health issues that fall under OHI are: AIDS, leukemia, lead poisoning, epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, sickle cell anemia, heart conditions, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis and hemophilia. Other health impairment learners are not limited to these health issues, but these are some of the most common. The difficulty in preparing for OHI students is that there is such a large range of issues that each individual child could be facing, and we as teacher’s don’t really know what kind of challenges we will face until we get to meet each student and look at their medical files. There is little variance from class to class in preparing for OHI students, but there are some specific strategies for Social Studies teachers that can help to educate the student’s peers and inspire the student to be proactive in their learning process.
Issues:
- The specific issues with teaching OHI students vary for different health impairments, this makes it difficult to prepare for specific impairments in advance
- Students have the potential to be unusually tired, possibly sleeping to the point of deep sleep, they could be feeling pain or discomfort, and have trouble staying alert
- Students with OHI are at risk for serious health issues that could cause emergencies and/or safety issues within the classroom.
- Students may miss multiple days or weeks due to health issues or illness
Specific Impairments: Asthma- This is the most common OHI in schools. It is important to understand the factors that may lead to an asthma attack and try to reduce them as much as possible inside of the classroom. These could include dust, chalk dust, and fumes. Epilepsy- Epileptic students will be prone recurrent seizures. It is important to understand that there are two types of seizures: Absence seizures and Tonic-clonic seizures. Absence seizures are characterized by a lack of concentration and short lapses in consciousness. Tonic-clonic seizures include convulsions and are followed by a lack of consciousness. It is important to understand that the teacher should not interfere with a Tonic-clonic seizure, but the space around the student should be cleared and a soft material can be placed under their head in order to protect their head (Vaughn 2007). Sickle Cell Anemia- These students will require frequent blood transfusions, so they may have to miss several days of class. The students may also be chronically tired and have a hard time focusing in class. They will also need to drink lots of water, so they should be allowed to go to the bathroom regularly. In addition, if the students are ever in immense pain, health services and parents should be contacted immediately. HIV and AIDS- For students with HIV or AIDS, it may not be clear or communicated right away that the student has the disease. It is important to be wary about bodily fluids and to adhere to the proper clean-up procedures for bodily fluids with students with HIV or AIDS.
Strategies: Pre-Class
There are some strategies that teachers can employ before they ever step in front of the classroom in order to prepare for the possibility of adapting to an OHI student:
- Have strategies in place to deal with students who miss several class days due to illness such as— o A class binder will all worksheets and appropriate homework/assignments organized by day o A file folder system where students can look to retrieve and complete work that they are missing o Office hours or some sort of extra support system for students who have missed several days of class o Have a well planned curriculum that could be adapted for a home-study curriculum for students on extended leave
- If it is possible, log on to Esis or whatever online class roster system is available and look to see if you have any alerts on students with OHI/ Look at these student’s IEP’s before class if possible
- Be prepared for a system with Make-Up grades or possible changes to the class grading scale for students who may miss big assignments In-Class
- Be mindful of students who need to use the bathroom or need to get a drink of water and alert the safety staff if an escort is needed
- Pay attention to the needs of individual students and gage how they are feeling day to day based on your observations, be prepared with contact numbers in case of an emergency
- Make accommodations for assistance technology and equipment
- Know the resources that are available for students: Is there a resource room available to them? Where can they take tests that will be beneficial to them (IEP teacher’s room…)? What kinds of supports are there for the student in case they need extra help? Specifically in the Social Studies Classroom
- Have a discussion with the class about exceptionalities, educate the student’s peers and get them involved in each other’s learning process
- Display print materials prevalently and use them often for recreation and activities
- Discuss the history of disabilities or famous people in history who have had a certain health issue—incorporate this into the social studies curriculum in order to inspire your OHI students
- Advocate for the rights of the disabled in your class as a part of your curriculum, this should be just as pertinent as the civil and women’s rights movements Out of Class
- Contact parents and support workers in order to understand what accommodations need to be made for each student
- Contact old teachers or IEP teachers in order to discuss and come up with effective strategies for the student—this way it will be clear what has and hasn’t worked in the past.
- Keep in constant contact with parents and support staff in order to foster a professional relationship and to check in on how the student is progressing in class Conclusion:
OHI are difficult to prepare for since they are so varied and different, but there are systems that will aid in preparation for classes and modifications during classes that will allow the students to feel like they are being accounted for. The important thing to remember with OHI students is that they may have a particular disease or issue, but all of them need individual attention and consideration.
WORKS CITED/ ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Vaughn, Sharon, Bos, Candace, et al. (2007). “Teaching Students Who Are Exceptional, Diverse, and at Risk in the General Education Classroom.” New York: Pearson Education.
DePaepe, Paris, Garrison-Kane, Linda, et al. (2002). Supporting students with health needs in schools: An overview of selected health conditions. Focus on Exceptional Children, 35, 1-24.
Janz, Janice, et al. (1993). Inclusive education for children with special health care needs. Annual Convention of the Council for Exceptional Children: San Antonio, TX.
Dooley, Elizabeth, and Nechelle Perkins. (1998). Let’s talk about the needs of African American children with sickle cell disease: a recognized ‘other health impairment.’ Coming Together: Preparing for Rural Special Education in the 21st Century: Charleston, SC.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, while not a Learning Disorder, is often a disorder that students with LDs have. This attention disorder has two distinct factors: inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. This can be further subdivided into three forms of ADHD: Predominantly Inattentive Type, Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type, and Combined Type.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, there has been a rise in documented cases of ADHD in recent years, and many children are affected by this disorder, which goes beyond the typical difficulty students may have with concentration and schoolwork. link
While there is variation within ADHD, there are a number of intervention strategies that have proven successful for children with ADHD:
Novel Approaches to Instruction
Using approaches such as highlighting information and key points (very important in Social Studies courses), boldfacing key material, and using colors can be successful for reaching out to ADHD students.
Consistency
Since students with ADHD do not have an easy time learning rules and procedures, keeping a high degree of consistency becomes more than simply a good idea. Change does not come easily to these students, and a large change may trigger the attention and behavior problems that are already an issue for the students.
Keep A Tight Schedule
Differentiation should be an organized progress, as opposed to helter-skelter (Teeter). While this seems intuitive, it is an important part of reaching those students with ADHD. In order to have time for the varied approaches that will benefit students with ADHD, time management must be observed on the part of the teacher.
Organizational Assistance
The many papers, maps, DBQ guides, charts, and more that are offered in Social Studies courses all need to go somewhere. For students with ADHD, figuring out where this all goes can be a challenge,. Therefore, teachers must provide help for students on how to organize their materials and schedules. Students must be guided on how to organize their informational effectively, and must also receive constant reminders to begin their planning process. Organization can be taught to students, and this will prove useful to students with ADHD.
Can't Just Sit Around
Arranging activities so that they incorporate movement is very important for ADHD students. Making sure that students get the chance to engage their senses, as well as getting to utilize a more kinesthetic form of intelligence, is important for ADHD students, an can be incorporated into activities that may not fit into the mold of being engaging/kinesthetic, such as writing, reading, and other traditional school tasks.
WORKS CITED
Teeter, Phyllis Anne. (1998). Interventions for ADHD: Treatment in Developmental Context. New York: Guilford Press.
Vaughn, Sharon, Bos, Candace, et al. (2007). Teaching Students Who Are Exceptional, Diverse, and at Risk in the General Education Classroom. New York: Pearson Education.
Context/Content of a Social Studies classroom
The Social Studies classroom provides a unique opportunity for differentiated instruction for exceptional learners. There are general strategies that can be implemented across any subject field, but social studies also provides an opportunity for real discussions on exceptionalities throughout history and key historical figures with exceptionalities. Along with this opportunity, there is also an issue with differentiated instruction, because social studies is a very text-heavy field. There are less hands-on activities than there are inside of a science classroom for example. Challenges aside, it is definitely possible to created a strong classroom culture with differentiated instruction inside the social studies classroom.
Other Health Impairments
Introduction:
Other health impairments are defined as “Having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, due to chronic or acute health problems…that adversely affects a child’s educational performance” (Vaughn 2007). Some examples of health issues that fall under OHI are: AIDS, leukemia, lead poisoning, epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, sickle cell anemia, heart conditions, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis and hemophilia. Other health impairment learners are not limited to these health issues, but these are some of the most common. The difficulty in preparing for OHI students is that there is such a large range of issues that each individual child could be facing, and we as teacher’s don’t really know what kind of challenges we will face until we get to meet each student and look at their medical files. There is little variance from class to class in preparing for OHI students, but there are some specific strategies for Social Studies teachers that can help to educate the student’s peers and inspire the student to be proactive in their learning process.
Issues:
- The specific issues with teaching OHI students vary for different health impairments, this makes it difficult to prepare for specific impairments in advance
- Students have the potential to be unusually tired, possibly sleeping to the point of deep sleep, they could be feeling pain or discomfort, and have trouble staying alert
- Students with OHI are at risk for serious health issues that could cause emergencies and/or safety issues within the classroom.
- Students may miss multiple days or weeks due to health issues or illness
Specific Impairments:
Asthma- This is the most common OHI in schools. It is important to understand the factors that may lead to an asthma attack and try to reduce them as much as possible inside of the classroom. These could include dust, chalk dust, and fumes.
Epilepsy- Epileptic students will be prone recurrent seizures. It is important to understand that there are two types of seizures: Absence seizures and Tonic-clonic seizures. Absence seizures are characterized by a lack of concentration and short lapses in consciousness. Tonic-clonic seizures include convulsions and are followed by a lack of consciousness. It is important to understand that the teacher should not interfere with a Tonic-clonic seizure, but the space around the student should be cleared and a soft material can be placed under their head in order to protect their head (Vaughn 2007).
Sickle Cell Anemia- These students will require frequent blood transfusions, so they may have to miss several days of class. The students may also be chronically tired and have a hard time focusing in class. They will also need to drink lots of water, so they should be allowed to go to the bathroom regularly. In addition, if the students are ever in immense pain, health services and parents should be contacted immediately.
HIV and AIDS- For students with HIV or AIDS, it may not be clear or communicated right away that the student has the disease. It is important to be wary about bodily fluids and to adhere to the proper clean-up procedures for bodily fluids with students with HIV or AIDS.
Strategies:
Pre-Class
There are some strategies that teachers can employ before they ever step in front of the classroom in order to prepare for the possibility of adapting to an OHI student:
- Have strategies in place to deal with students who miss several class days due to illness such as—
o A class binder will all worksheets and appropriate homework/assignments organized by day
o A file folder system where students can look to retrieve and complete work that they are missing
o Office hours or some sort of extra support system for students who have missed several days of class
o Have a well planned curriculum that could be adapted for a home-study curriculum for students on extended leave
- If it is possible, log on to Esis or whatever online class roster system is available and look to see if you have any alerts on students with OHI/ Look at these student’s IEP’s before class if possible
- Be prepared for a system with Make-Up grades or possible changes to the class grading scale for students who may miss big assignments
In-Class
- Be mindful of students who need to use the bathroom or need to get a drink of water and alert the safety staff if an escort is needed
- Pay attention to the needs of individual students and gage how they are feeling day to day based on your observations, be prepared with contact numbers in case of an emergency
- Make accommodations for assistance technology and equipment
- Know the resources that are available for students: Is there a resource room available to them? Where can they take tests that will be beneficial to them (IEP teacher’s room…)? What kinds of supports are there for the student in case they need extra help?
Specifically in the Social Studies Classroom
- Have a discussion with the class about exceptionalities, educate the student’s peers and get them involved in each other’s learning process
- Display print materials prevalently and use them often for recreation and activities
- Discuss the history of disabilities or famous people in history who have had a certain health issue—incorporate this into the social studies curriculum in order to inspire your OHI students
- Advocate for the rights of the disabled in your class as a part of your curriculum, this should be just as pertinent as the civil and women’s rights movements
Out of Class
- Contact parents and support workers in order to understand what accommodations need to be made for each student
- Contact old teachers or IEP teachers in order to discuss and come up with effective strategies for the student—this way it will be clear what has and hasn’t worked in the past.
- Keep in constant contact with parents and support staff in order to foster a professional relationship and to check in on how the student is progressing in class
Conclusion:
OHI are difficult to prepare for since they are so varied and different, but there are systems that will aid in preparation for classes and modifications during classes that will allow the students to feel like they are being accounted for. The important thing to remember with OHI students is that they may have a particular disease or issue, but all of them need individual attention and consideration.
WORKS CITED/ ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Vaughn, Sharon, Bos, Candace, et al. (2007). “Teaching Students Who Are Exceptional, Diverse, and at Risk in the General Education Classroom.” New York: Pearson Education.
DePaepe, Paris, Garrison-Kane, Linda, et al. (2002). Supporting students with health needs in schools: An overview of selected health conditions. Focus on Exceptional Children, 35, 1-24.
Janz, Janice, et al. (1993). Inclusive education for children with special health care needs. Annual Convention of the Council for Exceptional Children: San Antonio, TX.
Dooley, Elizabeth, and Nechelle Perkins. (1998). Let’s talk about the needs of African American children with sickle cell disease: a recognized ‘other health impairment.’ Coming Together: Preparing for Rural Special Education in the 21st Century: Charleston, SC.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, ADHD, while not a Learning Disorder, is often a disorder that students with LDs have. This attention disorder has two distinct factors: inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. This can be further subdivided into three forms of ADHD: Predominantly Inattentive Type, Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type, and Combined Type.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, there has been a rise in documented cases of ADHD in recent years, and many children are affected by this disorder, which goes beyond the typical difficulty students may have with concentration and schoolwork. link
While there is variation within ADHD, there are a number of intervention strategies that have proven successful for children with ADHD:
Novel Approaches to Instruction
Using approaches such as highlighting information and key points (very important in Social Studies courses), boldfacing key material, and using colors can be successful for reaching out to ADHD students.
Consistency
Since students with ADHD do not have an easy time learning rules and procedures, keeping a high degree of consistency becomes more than simply a good idea. Change does not come easily to these students, and a large change may trigger the attention and behavior problems that are already an issue for the students.
Keep A Tight Schedule
Differentiation should be an organized progress, as opposed to helter-skelter (Teeter). While this seems intuitive, it is an important part of reaching those students with ADHD. In order to have time for the varied approaches that will benefit students with ADHD, time management must be observed on the part of the teacher.
Organizational Assistance
The many papers, maps, DBQ guides, charts, and more that are offered in Social Studies courses all need to go somewhere. For students with ADHD, figuring out where this all goes can be a challenge,. Therefore, teachers must provide help for students on how to organize their materials and schedules. Students must be guided on how to organize their informational effectively, and must also receive constant reminders to begin their planning process. Organization can be taught to students, and this will prove useful to students with ADHD.
Can't Just Sit Around
Arranging activities so that they incorporate movement is very important for ADHD students. Making sure that students get the chance to engage their senses, as well as getting to utilize a more kinesthetic form of intelligence, is important for ADHD students, an can be incorporated into activities that may not fit into the mold of being engaging/kinesthetic, such as writing, reading, and other traditional school tasks.
WORKS CITED
Teeter, Phyllis Anne. (1998). Interventions for ADHD: Treatment in Developmental Context. New York: Guilford Press.
Vaughn, Sharon, Bos, Candace, et al. (2007). Teaching Students Who Are Exceptional, Diverse, and at Risk in the General Education Classroom. New York: Pearson Education.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. http://dpi.wi.gov